


Gelphie: Bubbles and Basil

by Depressed_Betelgeuse (orphan_account)



Category: Gelphie - Fandom, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:34:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21665731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Depressed_Betelgeuse
Relationships: gelphie - Relationship
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Gelphie: Bubbles and Basil

Elphaba Thropp never cried. No matter the occasion, she never, ever cried. She had been taught from an warily age that crying made people look weak and ridiculous. The first time that she had really cried was when she was two years old, the salty tears burning her green skin, turning it to an angry red color anywhere they touched. That day, as Nanny was rubbing cream all over the red burns on her face, Elphaba swore to herself that she would never cry again, no matter the situation. That was a promise that she had kept. . . . until now.  
Elphaba was now six years old, her younger sister Nessarose only three. Their mother, Melena, lay in bed, tears of her own streaking down her face as she writhed and screamed, body shaking with effort. Elphaba’s father was not home at the time, away on one of his trips. Under normal circumstances, Elphaba would be with him, her green skin helping convince people to convert apparently (she never really understood her father’s religious beliefs). But this time, Nessa had gone with Frex, his planning of a “father, daughter adventure” for the little girl. Elphaba wasn’t complaining, by any means, but it did mean that she had to help Nanny with caring for her mother.  
The woman was terribly ill, constantly vomiting and fainting, her fever burning. Nanny was worried, writing to Frex almost everyday to come home soon, for she feared that it was Melena’s last days. She never got a reply, however, Frex being too busy with his daughter to care about his wife. Elphaba was disgusted, by her mother’s vomiting and by her father’s behavior. No husband should be away while his pregnant wife is sick and dying! It made her already solemn face deepen even more into a scowl.  
Melena’s screaming shook the little girl out of her thoughts, the sound making Elphaba jump. “Nanny,” she asked. “Is Mother going to be okay? Is the baby going to survive?” That was the other thing, Melena Thropp had also been in labor for the past twenty-two hours, her sickness depleting her strength even more than it was.  
Nanny, an old woman who had taken care of Melena, and now Elphaba and Nessarose, patted her arm thoughtfully, though her face betrayed her true feelings. “Don’t worry child, your mother is a though one. She’ll pull through, I’m sure of it,” Elphaba wasn’t quite sure she believed Nanny, though she nodded anyway.  
Melena screamed again, and Nanny quickly got up and rushed to her side, Elphaba not far behind. “Nanny!” Elphaba’s mother cried, squirming under the sheets. “It’s coming!”  
“Now?” Nanny questioned.  
“Now!”  
Nodding and taking charge, Nanny gave Elphaba instructions to go fetch a bucket of water, many towels, blankets, and a new apron. Understanding the urgency of the situation and the pleading look in the old woman’s eyes, Elphaba nodded and took off to go find what was needed.  
She came back only minutes later, handing Nanny the apron and placing the rest of the stuff down on the floor. Nanny thanked her and told Elphaba to go into the other room, she didn’t want a child watching her mother give birth. As Melena screamed once again, the young green girl raced out of the room, heading for the garden.  
It a few hours and several picked flowers later when Elphaba heard the cries of a newborn. Turning on her heel, the girl quickly ran back into the house, making her way to her mother’s bedroom. As she skidded to a halt in the doorway however, she was faced with a stomach lurching sight. Her mother lying in bed, deathly pale and breathing shallowly, blood covering the sheets. Nanny stood to the side of the bed, holding Elphaba’s new sibling, and from what she could see, weeping. Elphaba got a sinking feeling in her stomach, and her hands started to shake as she walked closer, coming to stand next to Nanny. She gazed at her mother, the woman’s eyes open only a sliver; they were the most beautiful brown color, the eyes that Elphaba had inherited.  
“Mother. . .” Elphaba trailed off, her voice cracking slightly as she took Melena’s hand. It seemed frozen and burning to the touch all at the same time, further accentuating the fact that she was dying. Elphaba shivered, she hated the feeling her mother’s touch now gave her.  
At the sound of her daughter’s voice, Melena opened her eyes a bit more. “Elphaba,” her voice was soft and broken, almost lost to her daughter’s green ears. Elphaba leaned closer so that she could hear every little thing her mother said. “I know it may have never seemed like it,” her voice cracked violently. “But I love you. With all my heart.”  
Elphaba was finding it very hard not to keep her promise at this point. She had never heard her mother ever say that she loved someone, not even her father and especially not Elphaba herself. She snuggled a bit, leading Melena to speak again.  
“Oh no, don’t cry my darling,” Melena whispered, raising a shaky hand to stroke Elphaba’s smooth green cheek. “I am not leaving you, and I never will,” taking a moment to steady her shallow, erratic breathing, Melena moved her hand so that it was placed over Elphaba’s heart. “I will always be with you, right here. I will never leave you Elphaba Thropp. Do you understand?” Elphaba nodded, biting her lip to keep from crying, after all, she couldn’t defy her mother, even if she was dying. Melena, to her credit, managed a small smile, before looking over Elphaba’s shoulder to Nanny, nodding. “I have something for you,” she said, her voice shaking.  
Elphaba turned to follow her mother’s gaze, and saw Nanny walking out of the room. Confused, the girl turned back to her mother, only to see her with her eyes closed. Elphaba panicked, shaking her mother’s shoulders, telling her to wake up. Melena struggled to open her eyes, but eventually managed. “Shhh, it it okay, my sweet. I am not gone yet.” She was becoming soft in her final moments, Elphaba thought. Moments later, Nanny hobbled back into the room, still holding the baby in one hand, but in the other she held something else. A rope.  
“How odd,” Elphaba thought, before she saw what was on the other end of the rope. A puppy. Her mother had gifted her a small dog, with fur the color of Elphaba’s hair and eyes the color of her skin. Covering her mouth to stifle a gasp, Elphaba quickly turned back to Melena, confusion shining in her eyes.  
“She is yours, if you should decide to keep her,” Melena announced, a small smile gracing her cold lips. Elphaba could see tears leaking out of her eyes and streaming down Melena’s face. Elphaba was finding it harder and harder to keep from crying with every passing moment.  
Elphaba nodded, putting a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out. She knew that this would be the last gift she would ever get from her mother, and it broke her heart. Even so, she opened her arms and the puppy ran into them, Elphaba scooping the animal up. “What is her name Mother?” The young girl asked quietly.  
“I don’t know. What will you call her?” Melena countered.  
Elphaba thought for a long moment, her young mind whirling. She wanted her mother’s memory to live on in this puppy, and knew that part of it meant the right name. “How about Basil? I suppose that suits her, with her eyes and all, don’t you think Nanny?” The old woman behind her nodded silently, a tear falling down her face.  
“It’s perfect darling, I lov. . . .” Melena broke off mid sentence, rolling over and vomiting into the water-filled bucket that Elphaba had brought in. She turned back, her eyelids half closed and panting heavily. “Nanny, let me see the boy,” she commanded, as best she could with her shaking voice. Nanny quickly walked over to her side, placing the infant in his mother’s arms. “So beautiful,” Melena wisherped in wonder. “Nanny, you know it is time.” Nanny nodded again, silent as a stone. “I love you Nanny, take care of my children. Please.”  
“With everything I have in me, Melena,” Nanny finally found her voice, though it cracked and shook with the force of her tears. Elphaba took an involuntary step away from her, fearing the water rolling down her face.  
“Mother?” Elphaba spoke up. “What shall you name him, my brother I mean?”  
“Shell, in honor of Turtle Heart, I think,” she replied and stroked her sons head. “Make sure he knows that I love him, and I always will. Tell Nessa as well, and Frex. Tell them that I will miss them all terribly and that it was not painful. Alright? I need them to know,” Melena worried, tears of her own now welling in her eyes. Both Nanny and Elphaba nodded once again. “Elphaba, know that I love you too, and I will be with you wherever you are and whatever you do,” as her breathing slowed and Melena’s eyelids fluttered, her last words were slurred (how fitting, Nanny thought) and lost to the winds. “I love you. . . . my daughter. Forever and always,” and with that, Melena Thropp drew her last breath and closed her eyes fully, the ones she loved surrounding her as she died.  
Elphaba broke. Her heart broke, her voice broke as she whispered her mother’s name, and she broke her promise. She cried, well, more like sobbed, actually. Her cries echoing so loudly that she was sure all of Oz could hear and feel her grief. Elphaba clutched Basil in her arms, the puppies soft, silky fur her only comfort.  
Nanny quietly took a crying baby Shell from his mother’s arms, placed a hand on Elphaba’s back and steered all four of them out of the room. Tears slid down her face as she took one last look at the stubborn and beautiful woman she loved like a daughter on the bed before closing the door. Elphaba and Shell’s wails were deafening, along with the all consuming grief that suddenly overcame Nanny. When Frex came home and learned of his wife’s death, the old woman was sure that all of Oz would know of the death of Melena Thropp.


End file.
